Carreno Youth Orchestra/Vásquez at the Festival Hall

Share via

The trick is to look under the seat of each orchestral player. You’ll see a strange little bundle, with patches of red, yellow and blue bursting out. And when the hall is plunged into darkness at the end of the concert, fear not: when the lights go up, the bundles will have vanished, and each player will be wearing an anorak in the yellow, starry blue and scarlet of the Venezuelan flag. And the party will begin.

This is the Teresa Carreño youth orchestra, sister band of the Simón Bolívar. The players, aged 16 to 25 years, are third-generation products